There were 1,361 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Arizona on Wednesday, June 28. There were two new deaths. 51.8% of Arizona residents have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Use of intensive care unit beds across the state rose substantially in the past week, 19% of ICU beds are now in use by COVID-19-related patients,...
Last Friday, President Joe Biden issued a broad-sweeping executive order to address issues of corporate consolidation across U.S. industries. One of the industries cited was hospitals, drawing criticism for "misguided intentions" from industry stakeholders.
President Biden directed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services...Arizona News
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) provided $398 million in funding through the Small Rural Hospital Improvement Program (SHIP) to 1,540 small rural hospitals for COVID-19 testing and mitigation; funding allocated by the American Rescue Plan.
State...
Last Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would hear arguments for American Hospital Association v. Becerra, a case that deals with cuts made by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to the 340B Discount Drug Program.
The American Hospital Association (AHA) along with the Association of American Medical...
There were 769 new cases of COVID-19 in Arizona on Wednesday, bringing the state total to 894,875. There were six new deaths, the total is now 17,936. Almost 46% of Arizona residents are vaccinated against COVID-19. Only 8% of intensive care unit beds are in use by COVID-19 patients and 15% of ICU beds are available.
This...News
The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General found that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) lacked the authority to ensure that hospitals had appropriate emerging infectious disease preparedness plans in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The OIG conducted this audit to asses how CMS is...News
Better Medicare Alliance, a leading research and advocacy organization supporting Medicare Advantage, has announced the selection of health policy veteran and patient advocacy leader Mary Beth Donahue as President and CEO.
Donahue has had nearly a decade of leadership in public service at the U.S. Department of Health and Human...News
The Department of Health and Human Services Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has collaborated with standards development organizations and a large community of experts to release the Project US@ (USA) Draft Technical Specification Version 1.0 for public comment.
Project US@ was created to...
Through the Health Resources and Services Administration, HHS released revised reporting requirements for recipients of Provider Relief Fund payments. The announcement includes expanding the amount of time providers will have to report information; the extension aims to reduce the burden on smaller providers.
On June 11, the Biden...
Since February 15, 1.2 million consumers, nearly 24,000 in Arizona, have enrolled in the Affordable Care Act’s Healthcare.gov marketplace plans as a result of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Special Enrollment Period for the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.
CMS released a new report that shows that more than 1 million new and...National News
Last Friday, President Joe Biden revealed his $6 trillion budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2022. As anticipated, the president focuses on infrastructure, but unlike his predecessors includes big increases in health care spending as part of that infrastructure.
Most notably, the proposal includes a 23% increase for the U.S. Department...CMS Rules
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a proposed rule last Wednesday that delays the implementation of a Trump-era rule which would incentivize the use of value-based drug pricing agreements for the Medicaid program. The original version of the regulation was finalized in December 2021, but the Biden...National News
Last week the Department of Justice announced criminal charges against 14 defendants in seven federal districts across the country for allegedly participating in various healthcare fraud schemes that exploited the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in over $143 million in false billings before being blocked.
As well a the DOJ, the...Arizona News
In May, 35 hospitals and healthcare organizations reported to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights that nearly 2.7 million people were affected by data breaches.
The medical industry is a huge target for ransomware scams and hacking. Massive amounts of patient health information create an...CMS Rules
Last week, President Joe Biden announced that he would roll back a controversial Trump-era rule that would have required green card applicants and other immigrants to demonstrate that they would have health insurance upon arrival to the U.S. The so-called "public charge" rule would have allowed the government to deny visa applications if...Arizona News
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a 25% drop in premiums for new enrollees on HealthCare.gov. During the 2021 special enrollment period, and as a result of Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits, nearly 940,000 enrollees have joined plans offered on the exchange, according to Healthpayer Intelligence....CMS Rules
On Sunday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued two proposed rules for inpatient and long-term care hospitals. The first aims to fund medical residency positions in hospitals in rural and underserved communities in order to address workforce shortages in those areas and would require hospitals to report COVID-19...National News
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the availability of $1 billion for Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Health Center Program to support major construction and renovation projects across the country. The funding builds on President Biden's commitment to ensuring equity in access to COVID-19...News
In a retrospective analysis of post-acute claims by The American Journal of Managed Care, patients enrolled in Medicare Advantage have better outcomes and lower cost following skilled nursing facility discharge than patients enrolled in traditional fee-for-service Medicare.
Medicare Advantage v.s. traditional Medicare
Established...Arizona News
There were 649 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Arizona Wednesday, bringing the state total to 855,804. Six new deaths were reported, and will be retroactively reassigned to the dates on which the deaths took place. COVID-19 patients occupy 10% of intensive care unit beds and 14% of available hospital beds.
This information comes...